Fox News Poll: Americans Divided on Obama's Job Performance

Nearly a year after Barack Obama was elected president, Americans are divided over his performance.

According to a FOX News poll released Thursday, views are split over whether the president is meeting expectations and keeping promises -- and if the country is better off under his administration.

Nearly half of Americans -- 48 percent -- say President Obama is meeting or exceeding expectations, down from 66 percent who thought so in March. At the same time, nearly half -- 47 percent -- say he is falling below their expectations -- twice the number (23 percent) who thought his performance was sub par when polled in March 2009.

Forty-four percent of Americans say Obama is keeping more promises than he is breaking. Almost as many -- 39 percent -- think the president is breaking more promises.

Half of Americans approve of the overall job Obama is doing and 41 percent disapprove.

Fifty-six percent of voters are satisfied with what Obama has accomplished so far, down from 69 percent in April. Nearly all Democrats are satisfied (90 percent), as are over half of independents (55 percent) and 19 percent of Republicans.

While 42 percent of Americans think the country is better off today than it was a year ago, 43 percent say the country is worse off.

In addition, more people say they personally are worse off financially (41 percent) than say they are better off compared to last year (27 percent). One-third of Americans say their financial situation hasn't changed (33 percent).

By a wide 58 percent to 18 percent margin, the public continues to blame former President George W. Bush for the current state of the economy rather than Obama.

On the effectiveness of the economic stimulus and spending plan, sentiments are evenly split -- 48 percent think it has been effective, while 50 percent disagree.

Opinion Dynamics Corp. conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News from October 27 to October 28. The poll has a 3-point margin of error.

On issues of national security, 34 percent of Americans think terrorists are less likely to attack the U.S. today than they were a year ago. But a larger number -- 42 percent -- think terrorists are more likely to attack now. Nearly one in five (18 percent) think there is no difference in the threat level from terrorists.

The poll finds that a 65 percent majority thinks Obama is either very or somewhat prepared to handle the crisis "3 A.M. phone call" to the White House -- a leadership quality made familiar during the 2008 presidential campaign.

One of Obama's main campaign themes was change. About four in 10 Americans (39 percent) think the Obama administration has started to bring real change to Washington, down from 51 percent in April. A 56 percent majority says it is "more of the same partisan politics" -- up from 40 percent earlier this year (22-23 April 2009).

If the 2008 presidential election were held again today, more people say they would vote for Obama (48 percent) over Republican John McCain (41 percent). Similarly, Obama won the November 2008 election by 7 points -- 53 percent to 46 percent.

Among voters who backed Obama in the 2008 presidential election, 89 percent would vote for him again today while 5 percent would vote for McCain instead. The results are almost identical among McCain voters -- 89 percent would still vote for him and 4 percent for Obama.